You are home to me
by thisfairytalegonebad
Summary: When Keith is minorly injured in a mission, Kolivan sends him back to Voltron to have him healed in a pod. Keith gets to spend time with his family. [broken bones; team as a family; light angst; fluff]
1. Chapter 1

Keith wasn't sure where it all had gone downhill, but at some point, it had, and now what was supposed to be a rather easy infiltration mission to gather intel had turned into a wild chase that, frankly, didn't look like a very promising situation for him. He'd taken a hit to the head which resulted in black spots eating away at his vision, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could take before he passed out.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to take on the large Galra that was chasing him in this condition, he'd decided to run for it, hoping he'd manage to shake him off somehow, but instead, the Galra was steadily catching up.

Rounding a corner, Keith stopped dead in his tracks and just barely managed not to fall when the path suddenly ended and he was facing a drop that was several meters at least. The sudden stop was too much for his scrambled brains though, and he fell to the ground right before the gap.

Glancing down the gap, he wished he was wearing his Paladin armour. The jetpack sure would have been useful now, but he had to find a different way down there if he didn't want to be gutted by the Galra still chasing him.

He could have used his knife to attach a rope which he could've lowered himself to the floor below with, but he wouldn't have been able to retrieve the knife once he was down there, so that plan was out of the question.

That only left one option. It was all or nothing now, he'd either be lucky enough to get out unscathed, or he'd end up unable to defend himself for good. He really, really hoped it wouldn't be the latter.

With one last glance back, Keith let himself fall.

The sensation of falling paired with the concussion he probably had caused his stomach to lurch uncomfortably, but he gritted his teeth and braced himself for the impact.

He landed off balance, and something in his left ankle gave way. A fierce pain shot up his leg, making him gasp in pain, but he managed to roll off and avoid any further injuries.

Shit. That wasn't good, not good at all, if he wasn't able to walk, he was pretty much dead already.

Determined to power through whatever he'd done to his ankle, he attempted to shift his legs into a position that would allow him to stand up, and wow, yeah, that really, really hurt.

Also his pursuer had caught up faster than he'd expected, and he was absolutely unimpressed by the height, apparently, for he didn't even hesitate after rounding the corner before jumping down, and what was even less fair was the way he just slightly bent his knees at the impact before making his way over to Keith like the jump had been nothing, while Keith had broken his fucking ankle jumping down there.

At this point, the word shit was playing on repeat in Keith's mind as he tried to push himself up into a standing position, but before he managed, the Galra slammed him back down on the ground with a huge hand pressing painfully on his throat.

With an ugly grin, the Galra eyed him. "Well, well, well," he drawled, "If it isn't an intruder. What were you trying to do? Gather information about us? And you seriously thought you could get away with it? Ridiculous!"

It was getting hard to breathe with the increasing pressure on Keith's throat, and he really wasn't sure how much longer he was going to last before losing consciousness. Desperately, he tried to reach his knife without the Galra noticing. That, at least, shouldn't have been an issue, the Galra seemed to enjoy hearing himself talk way too much to pay attention what Keith was doing with his hands. Now, if only he could actually reach the knife…

Just when he thought he might be able to pull it from where it was attached to his hip, the Galra pulled back and grabbed him by the ankle, his injured ankle. Keith bit back a pained groan as his opponent grinned maliciously.

"I'm wondering what the Commander will do to you. Intruders always bring him joy, but traitors to the Galra Empire are in for a special treat," he informed Keith proudly.

Keith only managed a pained huff, and the Galra glanced down at Keith's leg he was holding in his grip. "Oh, you hurt yourself? The Commander won't be pleased that you already took away part of his fun."

The Galra squeezed Keith's ankle even tighter for a moment before he started dragging him behind him by his leg, and wow, now Keith really thought he was going to pass out any second. But he hadn't entirely run out of luck, apparently, as he finally succeeded in grabbing his knife with his desperate fumbling.

Quickly transforming it into a sword, he threw it with all his remaining strength, impaling the Galra from behind.

His opponent didn't make a sound, only paused mid-step, and didn't move for a few seconds. Keith held his breath as the Galra turned slowly, and for a moment he thought that maybe it hadn't been enough to seriously injure him, but then the Galra was facing him, and Keith could see that his sword had gone all the way through him and was sticking out from his chest.

In slow motion, the Galra fell forward, towards Keith, who managed to roll out of the way just in time before the massive body could crush him.

Keith eyed him warily, who knew if he wasn't still alive after all, but the Galra didn't move again. Good. That was… good. As far as he knew, that guy had been the only one to know of Keith's presence on the ship; he hadn't seen him communicate with any of the other guards or his Commander, and they hadn't passed anyone on their chase. That meant he was, well, not safe, but at least not in any immediate danger right now.

That knowledge was enough to send his brain into shutdown mode again, and he only managed to pant into his comm he only just remembered now, "K-Kolivan. Kolivan, I'm down," before he blacked out for good.

When the world rapidly came into focus again, he wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it couldn't have been too long since he was still lying in the same place with the dead Galra next to him, and not in a prison cell.

The relief he felt was short-lived, though. It quickly morphed into something that was dangerously close to panic. Oh, no, no, no. He was- They'd leave him. He was unable to get back to the team by himself, and this wasn't Voltron. Nobody was going to come for him.

Keith closed his eyes. His head throbbed, and he couldn't even move his foot. He was breathing quickly, too quickly, close to hyperventilating, and he knew he had to get it back under control, but somehow it wouldn't happen. The enemies were going to find him, take him to the Commander, and the Commander was going to kill him eventually. He was going to die here.

When he'd joined the Blade for good, he'd known, somewhere in the back of his mind, that he was very likely to get killed somewhere along the way. He'd accepted it, sort of, because what other choice was there? But he hadn't wanted to die like this. Not without his death having any kind of impact. His death would be completely meaningless. If he had to die, he'd wanted to go out like Ulaz. Like Thace. Like Antok, or Regris. They'd given their lives for the greater good, while he wasn't even being killed in combat.

And… he hadn't seen the Voltron team in weeks. Had only talked to them briefly every once in a while, too busy for more contact, both him and them. And now he desperately wished he had made time for them. Being able to say goodbye was a privilege few had in a war like this, and even if he had talked to them more often in the past weeks, he wouldn't have said goodbye, because he hadn't intended to die. But he still wished he had cherished the time with them more, instead of taking it for granted, and brushing them off when they called with the excuse of a new mission, or Kolivan him needing him for something.

Keith hated himself for the tears that were starting to gather in the corners of his eyes, and for the way his chest felt too tight for him to breathe properly.  
Wiping the tears away harshly, he propped himself up on his elbows and shifted closer to the dead Galra who was lying face first on the floor.

If he was going to die, he wanted to have his mother's knife with him, at least. Firmly gripping the hilt of the sword, he transformed it back into a knife and pulled it out of the Galra's back with some effort.

The moment he touched the knife, his chest loosened and the panic dissipated to make room for an inexplicable calm. And with panic no longer clouding his mind, he found himself aware of some kind of sound in the distance.

As he focused a bit more, he could make out the footsteps of someone rapidly approaching. One huge disadvantage of working with the Blade, compared to the Voltron Paladins, was that they were, despite everything, still Galra. Basically, even though the Blades and the Galra Empire couldn't have been more different, they still sounded the same when they ran. That meant right now, Keith didn't have a way to tell for sure whether the person running in his direction was a friend or a foe. His comm was eerily silent, too, and he didn't dare speak into it to ask about Kolivan's whereabouts.

But before Keith could either come up with some kind of plan or fall back into panic, the figure rounded the corner, and Keith relaxed instantly.

Kolivan .

"Keith," Kolivan said, his voice devoid of any emotion like usual. "Can you walk?"

Normally, Keith would've said yes, would have tried, and inevitably failed, but now, he really couldn't have cared less. Kolivan wouldn't judge him, wouldn't ask questions about the origins of his injury, either - honestly, Keith was a bit embarrassed that he'd pretty much done it to himself instead of having earned it honourably in combat - and time was precious, so he shook his head.

Nodding sharply, Kolivan bent down to collect Keith from the floor and immediately took off running again.

They didn't run into any trouble on the way back, but it looked like there had been trouble when Kolivan was trying to find him, from the way the floor was littered with unmoving Galra soldiers and broken sentries.

Only when they were back to safety, Keith dared to speak up. "You came for me…"

Honestly, Keith hadn't expected him to. He hadn't expected anyone to, but especially not Kolivan, who was always preaching that the mission was more important than the individual and that those who could not make it back in time were going to be left behind in order not to jeopardize the mission. All this talk, and now Kolivan had come back, for him ? Keith really wasn't sure what to make of that.

"It was an exception. There was still enough time, and nobody had discovered us yet. Don't get used to it," Kolivan spoke calmly. There was a long pause before he added, "Besides, you had the intel."

Keith couldn't help himself. He grinned, feeling like a lunatic, and once again he was glad for the mask covering his face. He wasn't sure if it had been Kolivan's intention, or if him having the intel really was the main reason for the rescue and Kolivan had just thought it would be worth mentioning, but for some reason, it felt like an inside joke between the two of them.

...aw, damn, maybe he really did have a concussion, although his head felt a lot better than it had before he'd passed out on the floor of the Galra ship.

The rest of the flight back to the Blade headquarters was silent, and Keith found it increasingly hard to keep himself awake. Just when he was about to nod off, Kolivan announced that they had reached their destination.

Without wasting time by asking, Kolivan picked Keith up again and carried him out of the jet, heading towards the infirmary. "How fast do you heal?" he asked.

"My head's gonna be fine in a few days, I think. If I have a concussion, it's not too bad. Uh, broken bones take a few weeks to heal for most humans, maybe around six to eight weeks to heal fully? But I've always healed a bit faster, probably because I'm half Galra, so it's around three to four weeks for me if the injury isn't too bad." He'd really had his fair share of broken bones, and the regular breaks had all healed completely within four weeks at most. The only time it had taken longer to heal was when he had snapped his arm completely at the elbow. The doctors had told him he had to expect at least half a year to make a full recovery, and they had been astonished when they'd declared him fully healed after just three months.

Kolivan stopped walking.

"What did we stop?" Keith asked, confused.

"That's… a long time," Kolivan said thoughtfully. "We can't afford for you to be grounded for that long, but we do not have anything to speed up the recovery process. Galra heal naturally fast, our broken bones are back to normal after a week."

That was… kind of cool. Keith knew he was lucky when it came to his healing abilities, but he hated nothing more than not being able to do as he pleased due to an injury. Only having to deal with that for a week sounded great, and he found himself envying the full-blooded Galra for their enhanced healing.

Kolivan spoke up again after a few moments of silence. "The Alteans have healing technology, correct?"

Keith nodded.

"Alright," Kolivan said, "I will contact Princess Allura." He started walking again, into the infirmary and deposited Keith on one of the cots. "Check for a concussion," he instructed the doctor who appeared by their side and immediately shoved a flashlight into Keith's face.

* * *

"Greetings," Kolivan said as his call to the Castle of Lions was accepted and the Princess' advisor appeared on the screen. "May I speak to the Princess, or Shiro?"

"Ah, my apologies!" The advisor - Coran, Kolivan remembered - replied dutifully. "I'm afraid neither of them is available at the moment. Is it a matter of great importance, or can you tell me so I can forward it to them?"

Kolivan shook his head. "No, it is nothing of the sort. I merely wanted to inform you that I intend on taking the former Red Paladin to the Castle of Lions to put him into one of your cryopods. He has been injured in our last mission, and we cannot wait for him to heal naturally."

Coran's professional expression slipped for a brief moment before it became neutral, and only the hint of worry in his eyes betrayed it. "Is he alright?"

"Yes, he will be. But his recovery will take too long, and time is precious in times like these, but we don't have healing technology like you do."

Coran nodded. "Unfortunately, there has been an, ah, slight mishap that caused quite a few problems with the cryopods, and they're not currently functional. But I'll work on repairing them as soon as possible, though I cannot say how long that will take."

"I understand," Kolivan replied. "I will take him to you anyway. He'll return to us once he is fully recovered."

He and Coran said their goodbyes, and Kolivan ended the call, making his way to the infirmary again.

The doctor was already done with the checkup of Keith's head and had moved to his ankle. Keith's jaw was clenched tightly, and he looked a bit pale.

Kolivan cleared his throat to make his presence known.

"Oh, you're back already," the doctor said, turning towards him. "He took a pretty bad hit to the head, but he doesn't have a concussion. It should be all good in a few days. But he broke his ankle, I had to set it."

Ah. That explained the pained expression Keith was wearing. "Thank you, doctor. He'll come with me, now."

"Are you sure?" The doctor asked, sounding surprised. "He's nowhere near healed."

"I'm aware. I'll be taking him back to the Paladins of Voltron. Rest assured, he will receive adequate treatment there," Kolivan explained. Addressing Keith, he added, "Coran has informed me that the cryopods are not currently working. But I still think you should go home until you're healed. After all, one heals best when surrounded by family."

Keith blinked. Home… and family. It sounded strange, and he'd never actually thought about it before, but… he guessed, in a way, Voltron had become his family somewhere along the way. And as someone who hadn't really had a place to call home in a long time, he'd always thought of people as home than of actual places. His dad had been home. Then, nothing for a long time. Then, Shiro. Now, the entirety of team Voltron. Yeah, he supposed they really were home.

Smiling, he slid off the cot and let himself be helped out of the infirmary and back into the jet by Kolivan.

He was going home.

* * *

 **I didn't intend for this to be split up, but then this sounded so much like the end of a chapter, so I'm posting this now, and the rest later, and I sure hope I can make the second chapter about this length too omg.**

 **Tell me about errors please, logic or anything else.**

 **Comments absolutely make my day!**


	2. Chapter 2

Since, according to the Blade doctor, he didn't have a concussion, Keith simply stopped fighting against the urge to go to sleep on the way to the Castle of Lions. Kolivan seemed to have come to the same conclusion, or maybe he just didn't care, but either way he made no attempt to stop Keith from falling asleep.

Keith easily slept through the entire flight, and was only startled awake when the jet roughly landed inside the castle. Kolivan may have been an excellent spy, assassin, or even space ninja, as Lance liked to call the Blades in general, Keith thought with a small grin, but he wasn't really that skilled of a pilot, and Keith would've been able to bring the jet down much more smoothly than Kolivan. It was a comforting thought, somehow, because not being without fault at everything made Kolivan seem more… well, not human, obviously, but more approachable, more real.

Whatever Keith had been musing about was blown away when Kolivan helped him out of the jet, and he was immediately assaulted by Hunk.

"Keith!" Hunk cried, looking dangerously close to tears already. "We missed you so much!"

Keith let go of Kolivan to lean more onto Hunk instead, and Hunk immediately took it as an invitation for a hug. It took Keith by surprise, a bit - though in hindsight it really shouldn't have, this was Hunk - but it only took him a few seconds to bring his own hands around Hunk's back.

"Hey, Hunk. Long time no seen," Keith said, words slightly muffled by the fabric of Hunk's shirt where his face was currently pressed. "Where's the others? Are they okay?"

Hunk sniffled a little, but let somewhat go of Keith, still keeping one arm around him as both a means of support and a remainder of the hug. "Yeah, they're fine. Shiro and Allura are off doing diplomat stuff, and Pidge and Lance are on a mission. They didn't need Yellow, so I stayed back to prepare dinner for when they return."

Keith smiled. That sounded awfully domestic, almost like they weren't caught in the middle of an intergalactic war where they could be attacked any second. He really couldn't say he minded.

Hunk was still talking. "...were already gone when Kolivan called, so nobody knows you're here yet, oh man they're gonna be so surprised to see you, in a good way though, they're gonna be so happy! We really missed you, buddy!"

Leaning a bit more into Hunk, Keith sighed contently. "Yeah. I missed you guys too."

Suddenly, a hand clasped down on Keith's shoulder. "Keith, my boy! It is so good to see you, even though I'd rather we reunited under better circumstances than you being injured! Tell me, how badly are you hurt?"

Something about Coran's concern he was so openly expressing for him tugged painfully at Keith's heartstrings; it just felt so much like home. Even though Coran's fussing had used to drive him up the wall when he still was a Paladin, now it made his insides feel all warm and tingly.

"Not badly," Keith promised, "Got hit in the head, but I'm already cleared for that, it's nothing bad. And I broke my ankle. That's why I'm here."

"Alright, infirmary now, chop, chop," Coran said, clapping his hands together and already walking towards the door.

Keith turned awkwardly from where he was still being held in a half-hug by Hunk. "Uh, in a tick, let me just…" he looked towards Kolivan, trying to think of something to say as a goodbye, but Kolivan beat him to it.

"I'll be leaving you in the capable hands of the Voltron Paladins, little one. I trust you will find your way back to us once you are fully healed." With that, the leader of the Blade turned to leave before Keith even had time to comprehend the affectionate nickname Kolivan had just called him, in front of Hunk.

"Uh, yeah, sure, thanks… for taking me here, I'll… I'll see you later," Keith blurted, decidedly looking anywhere but at Hunk.

But of course, Hunk wouldn't just let it go. As soon as Kolivan had left, his head whipped around towards Keith. "He called you little one! Does he call you that a lot?"

Keith shrugged uncomfortably. "Just sometimes. It's probably because I'm shorter than all of them. Don't read too much into it."

"He called you little one," Hunk repeated. "That's so cute!"

"Hunk," Keith groaned. "Coran's probably waiting, let's just go."

"Right, right, sorry. Okay, so, you probably shouldn't walk, or can't walk, right? Oh, I know! I'll give you a piggyback ride, can I give you a piggyback ride?"

Keith looked at him with a mixture of exasperation and amusement. "Absolutely not. Just support me or something, I'll be fine."

What he wasn't prepared for was the kicked-puppy look Hunk suddenly was sporting. "Aw, Keith, come on. Please?"

"Ugh. Okay. Just this once. And just because it's you." Keith figured he could let Hunk have this, at least nobody was around to witness it. Nobody but Coran, but Coran, for all his cheerful boisterousness, could be very perceptive and subtle when it was necessary, so Keith didn't have to worry much about his dignity.

He shifted his weight away from Hunk, and hissed in pain when he accidentally jarred his broken ankle jumping on Hunk's back.

"You okay?" Hunk asked, hooking his arms underneath Keith's thighs to secure him in place.

Keith sighed. He hadn't felt much pain after the injury had happened, and on the way back from the mission he'd still somewhat been on adrenaline so it hadn't hurt as much. Getting the bone set had been painful, but it hadn't lasted long, and then they were already in the jet again where he'd slept, so he hadn't been in pain either. But now that there was neither sleep nor adrenaline to keep the pain away from him, he was becoming more aware of the steady throbbing in his ankle that increased with any wrong movement he made. "Yeah. Don't tell the others, though, but this really hurts. A lot." He didn't know what made him admit it, usually, he tried to downplay injuries as much as possible, but now, something about the painfully familiar atmosphere in the castle he had missed so much caused him to speak the words before he could stop himself.

"I know, buddy," Hunk said, his voice softer than before. "It's a broken bone, they hurt. Don't you worry, though, Coran will fix you right up. He probably even has some of those strong Altean painkillers for you."

Keith grinned. "He figure out the right dosage for humans yet?" The last time Coran had given those painkillers to any of them had been when Lance had a simple headache from taking one hit too many from a training bot. As it had turned out, Alteans needed much higher doses of painkillers than humans did, and Lance had ended up being so drugged he'd been unable to speak anything but Spanish for two days, and at some point, he'd even tried to start a conversation with the food goo machine.

Hunk laughed as he remembered the incident. "He did, so he probably won't drug you into oblivion. Though I'm not sure if he's figured out how to include your Galra DNA in the equation, but I bet we can figure something out." He entered the infirmary and carefully deposited Keith on the examination table, stepping away to give Coran room to work.

"Did you already get medical attention from the Blades?" Coran asked as he felt around Keith's ankle carefully.

Keith nodded. "They set it, but nothing more. I said it wasn't necessary, if they splinted it, you'd just take it off and do it again yourself to make sure it's right."

Coran nodded proudly. "You are right, son! I would have done that, indeed." He was quiet for a moment, stroking his moustache thoughtfully. "I'm not sure how to proceed with your ankle, though. Normally, you would have to go in a pod, but like I already told Kolivan, those are out of order at the moment. I don't have anything to heal broken bones, either…"

Shrugging, Keith said, "Just splint it, and I'll be fine." Compared to the other times he'd had to spend in a cast as a kid, or even at the Garrison once, this was going to be over quickly if he only had to wait for the pods to be fixed.

Coran eyed him doubtfully. "Are you sure, Number Four? That sounds awfully cruel, you will be in a lot of pain."

"I can handle it. I've broken bones before, and on Earth, we don't have healing pods. We just let broken bones heal on their own." Keith didn't think what he said was particularly strange, and Hunk's expression didn't change, but Coran looked at him in horror.

"You snap your bones in half and let them heal on their own? Just like that? But that must take ages to heal, and you'll have to live with the pain for the entirety of the healing process! Unless humans' bones heal a lot faster than Alteans'?"

Keith shrugged again, and Hunk explained, "I dunno how long you guys take to recover from broken bones, but for us it's like, six weeks. And the pain gets better once the limb is immobilized."

"Which is why I'll be fine if you splint it," Keith added.

Coran looked very pale and like he was about to be sick but he didn't argue, muttering about how crazy Earthlings were the whole time he worked on splinting Keith's ankle.

"So," Keith started, addressing Hunk, "How did the pods go out of order? Did you get attacked?"

"That, oh man, no, that was funny, actually," Hunk laughed, "So, we were kinda tinkering with them, Coran, Pidge and I, to adjust and improve some stuff, because while Altean tech is amazing, it's still ten thousand years old so we were trying to make some changes to it. All the wires are lying open because we're literally in the middle of work, and then Lance comes in because he's bored, slurping a milkshake. He gets closer to see what we're doing, doesn't watch where he's going, trips over my toolbox, and spills the milkshake all over the wires."

Keith snorted. "No way."

"Yes!" Hunk cried, "And he was just there on the floor, watching as it all short-circuits, smoking and crackling and generally looking not good at all, and he just mutters Oh no very quietly. Pidge and Coran yelled at him, but in retrospect we all think it's hilarious. Except for Lance."

"Oh man," Keith commented, still chuckling lightly at the mental image of Lance frying the entire pod system with a milkshake. "Only Lance."

"Yep," Hunk confirmed. "Only Lance. Oh, hey, Coran, you're done?"

"Indeed! Keith, do not put any weight on it until we get the pods back in order. Now, you are free to leave. You were very brave, my boy!" Coran declared passionately, and Keith could've sworn he was getting teary-eyed. What the fuck.

"Yeah, yeah. What's next, you gonna give me a lollipop?" Keith grumbled sarcastically. Next to him, Hunk gasped, scandalized.

"Was that- Keith, stop making jokes when the others aren't around! They never believe you do that!"

Coran tilted his head inquiringly. "What's a lollipop?"

"It's some sort of candy we have on Earth," Hunk explained, "Doctors give them to kids after an examination as a reward."

"Oh!" Coran exclaimed in sudden understanding, and marched off towards a cupboard, rummaging through the supplies he kept in there. It took him maybe thirty seconds before he reemerged triumphantly, rushing back to Keith. "I knew I still had those from when Allura was a child. She used to get quite fussy during medical examinations." Without waiting for a reaction, he shoved whatever he'd found into Keith's mouth, nearly making him choke on the thing. "Alright, I'll leave you boys to yourself now."

Oblivious to Keith's glare, Coran exited the room and left the two of them, one of which was trying very hard not to laugh out loud, the other trying and failing not to blush in embarrassment.

"I don't suppose I can ask you not to tell the others about this?" Keith asked around the candy in defeat.

Hunk snickered. "Nah, sorry. Lance would probably find out I'm keeping something like that from him, and then he'd haunt me in my dreams. Does it at least taste good?"

"Not really. Apparently, Alteans like their candy spicy but also kind of… salty? And I feel very weird eating something that is more than ten thousand years old."

"Ew, you're right, I didn't even think of that," Hunk laughed good-naturedly. "So, uh. You hungry for some real food? I made cookies when I heard you were coming home, you like peanut butter, right? They're not peanuts, obviously, but they taste like peanuts, they just got kind of a weird texture. I can get you to your room and bring you some cookies, if you wanna? I kinda need to start making dinner, so…" Hunk trailed off, seemingly uncertain about how to proceed.

Keith furrowed his brows. A few months ago, he would have taken up on Hunks offer to drop him off in his room and leave him to himself. But after weeks of spending all of his time off missions in an empty room with no company that felt way too much like his days of living alone in the desert for his liking, he found himself craving the presence of another person.

"Actually," he began carefully, "Can I come? To the kitchen? Maybe I can help you with something."

Hunk stared at him in surprise for a moment. "Uh, yeah! Yeah, of course, that's even better. Kitchen is it, then. I'm sure I can find something for you to cut up."

He let Keith climb onto his back again and took off to the kitchen. After getting seated on a chair, Keith was handed a knife, a cutting board, and a massive, weird looking blue vegetable.

"I forgot what those are called, but they're good. Not really comparable to anything we have on Earth, but still good. Just dice them, then add them to the bowl over here," Hunk instructed.

Cutting the vegetable was a soothing kind of work, repetitive and mindless enough for Keith to allow his thoughts to drift off as he and Hunk worked side by side in silence. The cookies Hunk had made - for him, his brain supplied, and he decided he liked that thought - were on the table, next to the chopping board, and once he'd tried the first one, Keith found himself practically stuffing his face with those delicious cookies.

He only slowed down when Hunk first looked at the cookies, then at him, then started chuckling. But then his amused expression morphed into concern and he asked, "Keith, are they feeding you at all over there?"

Keith nodded, already biting into another cookie. "They do feed me," he began. "But, Hunk." Setting the cookie down on the table, he stared Hunk in the eye with a serious expression. "The Blades don't eat anything but food goo."

Hunk recoiled in disgust. "You can't be serious! All this time, you've been eating food goo?"

Keith nodded gravely, and Hunk threw his hands into the air. "Unbelievable. I thought Coran was the only one with such a terrible taste, I didn't expect anyone else to be this misled."

"Oh, it gets worse," Keith said. "Not only they don't eat anything else, but they actually like it, too."

Now Hunk really looked like he might be sick, and Keith couldn't help but laugh at his horrified expression. "It's cool, buddy, that just means I'm extra looking forward to your cooking tonight."

Determination set on Hunk's face. "Oh, trust me, you will eat the best damn food in the galaxy tonight my friend. I will personally make sure of that!"

"My saviour."

Just as Hunk was about to say anything else, the door opened and loud chatter immediately filled the room.

"Hunk, my best friend in the entire universe, please tell me dinner is ready. I'm starv- Keith? "

"Hey, Lance," Keith said, taking another bite of the cookie. "And Pidge, hi."

" Keith," Lance repeated, picking his jaw off the floor. "We haven't seen you in ages, we started to think you were dead!"

Keith rolled his eyes, shifting on the chair so Pidge who had run up to him could hug him properly. "You guys called me like, last week."

"Details, details. Why are you here? Not that you shouldn't be, but still, why? Anything happened?"

Between two bites of delicious cookie, Keith said, "Broke my ankle. Kolivan sent me here because of the pods, but I heard you completely fried them."

The look of utter betrayal Lance sent towards Hunk was enough to make Keith snicker and almost choke on a cookie crumb. "You told him about that?" Lance cried.

"Sorry, man. He asked how the pods broke. I couldn't just not tell him," Hunk shrugged.

Lance let out a sound like a wounded animal and slumped over the table pitifully. But then his eyes locked on the cookies, and he immediately perked up. "Oh boy, cookies. "

"Hey," Keith protested, "Those are mine. I've been living off food goo for the past weeks. Hunk, tell him."

Hunk nodded seriously and whispered, "It's terrible."

"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that. You don't need all of them."

"Fine. I suppose you can have one. "

They continued to bicker, Keith fruitlessly trying to defend his cookies from Lance and Pidge's hands as they took turn stealing them from the plate.

Just when dinner was almost ready, the door opened again, and Shiro and Allura entered. Almost simultaneously, they froze in their tracks when they discovered Keith sitting at the table. "Keith!"

Keith gave them a small wave. "Hey guys."

Shiro quickly made his way over to Keith to pull him into a quick hug. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming? You okay?"

Keith went over the events of the past few hours again, and by the end of his explanation, Allura lightly clasped his shoulder in a friendly gesture and smiled at him. "Well, we are certainly happy to have you here again. Even though you should know, you are always welcome here, even without an injury."

Keith gave a small smile in return. "Yeah."

* * *

After dinner, nobody actually seemed to look forward to going to their own room, so they ended up hovering in the sitting area awkwardly until Hunk proposed they'd all sleep in there together tonight. "A sleepover so we can make the most of Keith being here," he'd said, and everyone had been quick to agree.

That's how they ended up with a literal nest of blankets and pillows on the floor of the sitting area, all curled up around each other with Pidge's laptop, watching some old movies she'd saved on there.

What they hadn't expected was Keith drifting off to sleep pretty much fifteen minutes into the first movie. He fought to stay awake, eyes occasionally closing slowly before he jerked back awake, but it quickly began to look like a losing battle.

"Dude," Pidge said sceptically, "Do you sleep at all, or are you off doing whatever fucked up stuff you do twenty-four hours a day?"

Trying to look more awake, Keith shrugged. "Yeah. Kolivan forces me to sleep three hours a night."

Lance rolled his eyes. "What an evil, evil man, forcing you to sleep. How dare he."

"You know three hours isn't enough for humans?" Pidge asked, eyeing him warily.

"I do. Kolivan doesn't. He never asked, I never told. 'Sides, Galra only need three hours. And I'm half Galra, so I'm good," Keith muttered, not very keen on discussing his sleeping habits with the entire team.

He wasn't winning this, though. Shiro frowned at him. "That's the point. Half Galra. Your human half wants sleep. Listen to it."

"Ugh. I can't just sleep while everyone else fights, though. That's not how it works," Keith argued. He already had to make up for too many things as it was, he didn't need anything else added to the list.

"Kolivan will understand if you tell him. He wants his people in peak condition, he'll rather have you sleep for a few hours more than getting yourself killed in battle just because you're sleep deprived," Shiro replied patiently.

Lance stared at Keith for a few seconds before he unwrapped himself from the blankets and Hunk's arm and stood. "Be right back. Coran's still working on the pods, right?" Without waiting for a reply, he turned and left the room.

Keith watched him leave before he turned his attention back to Shiro, but he didn't manage to come up with a reply as he had to suppress a yawn and Shiro looked at him like he'd just made his point for him. Which he probably had. Damn.

"Go to sleep now," Shiro told him. "We'll talk about this tomorrow."

Grumbling something incomprehensible, Keith burrowed his face in his pillow. He tried to stay awake for a few more minutes, but it wasn't long until he was out like a light.

When Lance came back, he gave no explanation for what business he'd had with Coran. He simply slid back into his place between Hunk and Pidge and let Hunk wrap his arm around him again. "He asleep?" he asked, poking Keith experimentally. When Keith didn't stir, he gave a satisfied nod. "My hand is still attached to my body so yep, Mullet's out."

"Oh, hey, Lance, now that Keith's asleep, I can tell you," Hunk said in an excited half-whisper, turning his head towards Lance. "You'll never believe what Coran did after he was done patching up Keith."

Not even Lance's howling laughter could wake Keith up, which was very unusual for him. Normally, he kept his guard up even when asleep. But here, amidst his family, he felt safer than he had in a long time, safe enough to sleep for a solid eleven hours.

And if Coran took a day or two longer to repair the cryopods than he'd usually have, well, there certainly weren't any ulterior motives from any of them behind it.

* * *

 **Idk why it ended up being so much Keith & Hunk interaction but I can't say I mind.**

 **Not sure if I'm satisfied with this or not, but uh, let me hear your thoughts please?**

 **And yes, Lance did go tell Coran not to hurry with the pods so Keith could stay with them a bit longer. Just uh. Not sure if that was clear.**

 **Also, I love broody, angsty Keith just as much as most of us, but I also think he can be silly sometimes (I keep remembering that scene in S1 where they're celebrating with the Arusians I think, and Keith is just openly laughing with Hunk) so here's him being silly.**

 **Uhh** yeah **I think that's it, it'd mean a lot if you told me what you think of it!**


End file.
